There are 41 seconds left in the Super Bowl and my 12-year-old daughter asks me “Who are you rooting for?”
It’s Bengals vs. Rams. No Patriots. No Tom Brady. No Patrick Mahomes. No Pete Carroll or Mike Vrabel.
I don’t have a preference.
“But,” she persists, “who are you rooting for?”
“It really doesn’t matter to me who wins.”
“Oh,” she says. “I thought you seemed awfully calm.”
And it gets me thinking about your Elevator Pitch.
Because when you set your heart on an outcome – that’s not networking.
Networking is starting a conversation with the person in front of you.
So when you
…attend an event because a specific person appears on the attendance list
…collect lots of business cards because “it’s a numbers game”
…follow up on a schedule because “persistence pays off”
you’re setting yourself up for frustration and disappointment.
Here’s why:
If you’re eager to meet a particular person, then you ignore the people in front of you while you scan the room.
If you’re collecting business cards then you trade off making a connection now for cold calling them tomorrow.
And when people don’t return your calls, that means that you didn’t make a connection.
It’s funny what your kids reflect back to you.
I realize that in the past several years I’ve been cheering hard either for or against Tom Brady.
This year I didn’t have a horse in the race.
It helped me enjoy a good football game.
It helped my family more enjoy a good football game.
And it’s a good attitude to bring to your next networking event.
Connect with who shows.
Enjoy the conversations.
Follow up with people you enjoy talking to.
That’s networking!
Want to get better at starting conversations with the right people?
Check out Step 2 of our 5-Step Business Networking Roadmap in Network More Effectively